Understanding the adsorption mechanisms of asphaltenes and other surface active components to different mineral and catalyst surfaces in oil production

拟议的项目涉及加拿大和全球石油行业面临的一个非常具有挑战性的问题。石油生产中的许多工业问题，如井筒或管道堵塞、(粘土矿物)固体润湿性的改变、原油调合过程中的沉淀以及催化剂的失活，都至少部分地归因于沥青质和其他表面活性成分(如树脂、环烷酸)在不利的液体环境和各种固-油-水界面下的分子聚集和吸附。沥青质具有强烈的自缔合倾向，导致聚集和吸附到工程表面(如管道)，导致储油层产油量减少，操作中出现严重的加工问题，如换热器、输送设备和蒸馏设备的腐蚀、冲刷和结垢，导致操作成本显著增加。尽管灰棕榈烯和其他表面活性成分在矿物和粘土表面的吸附已经引起了石油工业的广泛关注，但对吸附机理的了解仍然非常有限，特别是在纳米和分子水平上。

The proposed project deals with a very challenging issue confronting the Canadian and global petroleum industry. Many industrial problems in oil production such as wellbore or pipeline plugging, alteration of wettability of (clay minerals) solids, sedimentation during crude blending, and catalyst deactivation are all attributed, at least partly, to molecular aggregation and adsorption of asphaltenes and other surface active components (e.g., resins, naphthenic acids) upon exposure to an unfavourable liquid environment and to various solid-oil-water interfaces. Asphaltenes have strong tendency to self-associate leading to aggregates and adsorption to engineering surfaces (such as pipelines), resulting in reduction of oil production from the reservoir and serious processing problems in operations, i.e., corrosion, erosion and fouling in the heat exchangers, transportation devices and distillation equipment, causing a significant increase in operating cost. Although the adsorption of ashpaltenes and other surface active components onto mineral and clay surfaces has received much attention in petroleum industry, the understanding of adsorption mechanisms still remain very limited, particularly at the nanoscale and molecular level.